Coming Soon: Happy Place by Emily Henry

Plus, 7 more great faux-relationship romances to read while you wait

Over the past few years, Emily Henry's charming, literary-minded romances have taken the book world by storm. Since Beach Read came out in 2020, she has sold more than 2.4 million books collectively and spent 145 weeks on the New York Times best-sellers list. And with good reason. Henry's romances incorporate familiar tropes like friends-to-lovers (People We Meet on Vacation) and enemies-to-lovers (Beach Read and Book Lovers). But in Henry's capable hands, these scenarios are elevated by clever banter, thoughtful characters, and sizzling sexual chemistry. So we're all pretty excited to read her newest, Happy Place, coming out on April 25.

The premise: Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college. They go together like salt and pepper, honey and tea, lobster and rolls. Except, now—for reasons they're still not discussing—they don't. They broke up five months ago. And still haven't told their best friends. Which is how they find themselves sharing a bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group's yearly getaway for the last decade.

Fake it 'til you make it

While you wait for your copy of Happy Place to arrive, here are seven more fake relationship romances we love.

Things We Never Got Over by Lucy Score
Knox Morgan doesn't generally tolerate drama, especially in the form of stranded runaway bride Naomi. But since her life imploded right in front of him, he reckons the least he can do is help her out of a jam. This grumpy-sunshine romance also incorporates a fake dating scenario.

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
Third-year Ph.D. candidate Olive doesn't believe in lasting romance. But in order to convince her best friend that she's dating, she impulsively kisses the first man she sees. That man happens to be a young hotshot professor, who is also a complete jerk. So Olive is floored when he agrees to go along with her charade.

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall
As the son of famous rock stars, Luc has been caught in one too many compromising photos. Now he's under pressure to clean up his image with a nice, normal relationship. Oliver is as nice and normal as they come. So, even though they have nothing in common, the two agree to pose as fake boyfriends.

The Bodyguard by Katherine Center
Executive Protection Agent Hannah is not so thrilled when her new assignment is to protect a vapid superstar actor, Jack Stapleton, from a stalker. When Jack's mom gets sick he goes home to help out. Not wanting his family to know about his stalker, he asks Hannah to pose as his girlfriend and she reluctantly agrees.

Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert
After a video of him "rescuing" her from their office building goes viral, Dani is happy to fake-date her friend Zafir to help promote his sports charity for kids. It seems a perfect way to segue into the friends-with-benefits relationship she's been hoping for. But it turns out to be a little more complicated.

Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur
With nods to Bridget Jones's Diary and Pride & Prejudice, this debut is a delightful queer rom-com about a free-spirited social media astrologer who agrees to a faux relationship with a grumpy actuary until New Year's Eve. Not even the stars could predict how it ends up playing out!

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
Stella Lane thinks math is the only thing that unites the universe and her algorithms to predict customer purchases has made her a lot of money. But having Asperger's makes it hard to figure out how to date. So she hires Michael, a gorgeous escort to help her "practice."

Don't forget to get your preorder in for Happy Place! And, in the meantime, keep yourself occupied with one of these fun fake-relationship alternatives. As always, we love hearing from you. So let us know if you have any faves to add!

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Read more by Ashly Moore Sheldon